You will find the following “Consumer Alert” on yelp:
We caught someone red-handed trying to buy reviews for this business. We weren’t fooled, but wanted you to know because buying reviews not only hurts consumers, but also honest businesses who play by the rules. Check out the evidence here. ( http://s3-media3.ak.yelpcdn.com/saphoto/RU7bd3h2f6pBlf8BfAyxGQ/o.jpg )
Clicking the link provided will take you to an image caption of the correspondence between the yelp sting operative and the company. This jeweler was offering $200 for a review, per the craigslist post they had created. And apparently they are not the only ones using this technique… per google search for “Craigslist.org Yelp review”:
Does this Yelp Penalty Affect Ranking?
Levi Jewelers still ranks #1 in the yelp search “Jeweler” from a desktop, as of today. It still shows the 5 stars and 91 reviews. ( Interesting to note that they do have 366 filtered reviews. )
When you travel to their page the consumer alert is below the fold:
The mobile version does not currently show the consumer alert whatsoever. And the yelp deal with Levi, one that pays yelp, is still active.
What is the verdict?
Honestly, I think yelp could show some more teeth here. But for the sake of making a public example of this company, I believe they are opting to keep them up. This is also a recent update and I am sure that the future versions of Yelp penalties will be modified. The email correspondence occurred beginning Oct. 11th through Oct. 13th. It appears that it was leaked to the press very quickly and thus the public relations team is getting their message out.
However, from a previous yelp broken filter blunder in which Yelp quickly reacted to remove the reviews, I feel yelp still fails to make a solid stance. Their previous blunder only called for a quick cover up, it did not remove the members who violated the guidelines. Will yelp protect the other members that the Jeweler paid off to get good reviews? Will there be a point when businesses get an advocate to combat yelpers gone wild?
Pest Control Guy Penalized on Yelp for Reviews
Rumor has it that there is a pest control guy that was caught red handed buying reviews on yelp as well. I have not been able to find this bugger. I am shocked however that a Phoenix pest control competitor of mine openly offers a credit for a yelp review on his website. It seems that this should certainly be a red flag for yelp.
“Love Us? YELP! Post a positive comment on YELP and receive $5.00 off any service. Let us know through our Contact Us page”
Apparently a yelp review is only worth $5 for pest control companies. That is a bit shy of the $200 the jeweler is offering and the $100 a restaurant in Sedona is offering.
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I wonder if the review filter wasn’t so ferocious and fickle would this become less of a problem? Of course there will always be a reputation management aspect to reviews and fake reviews will always exist but the Yelp filter really seems to cause a lot of issues. It’s amazing that real reviews get filtered unless your clients use Yelp more often. It is hard enough to get reviews, but you have to hope people start to use Yelp.
In theory the review filter would be fickle for all, therefore it is an even playing field. But in the case of Bulwark’s Austin pest control branch, we have only 24 reviews showing with 143 filtered. Our yelp advertising competitor has 44 reviews showing with only 19 filtered. Appears fishy to me.
Good to know, I was thinking about posting on my website a discount for yelp reviews. Which seems fair enough to me. If my customers are happy with the quality of service I provide them then why shouldn’t I give them a kickback for letting other people know that I am a reputable business.
Thanks for the post.
Jeremy Stoppelman CEO of Yelp.com is a real winner. Well, no, not really. This man runs a company that not only thrives on negative attention, but refuses to respond to legitimate concerns.
I am not sure how he can sleep at night knowing that he is running such a joke of a company.
If any of Yelp’s investors or advertisers are reading this, I urge you to immediately pull out of Yelp while you still can. You do not want to be associated with a company that is being run in such a reckless manner.
Yelp is a company with no core values. No core – period. Like an onion. Peel away the layers, and you’ll never get to the core. I can honestly say that I do not think Yelp will be around much longer. Jeremy obviously does not care about doing the right thing. He is unethical and unprofessional.
Congratulations for the blog, I have a big problem in solving a scorpion infestation, we have used several of dedetizadora bayer products and basf but it did not work.
Could someone inform an effective insecticide against this pest?
The big issue around the nation is the pests. They are almost unbeatable. It is very frustrating to have to hire an Salt Lake City exterminator when you do not want to spend money on it. But honestly, there is no other way to get rid of them.